OSCAR The Making of a Champion WORTHY

Australia is all-in as McLaren driver OSCAR PIASTRI prepares for a maiden world championship tilt in justhis third season 377 of Formula One...

- STEWART BELL

Oscar Piastri is Australia's best shot at winning the Formula One World Championship since Alan Jones in 1980. The McLaren young gun has everything you need to slay in F1, including searing, prodigious speed and a razor-sharp, killer instinct to take the results from rivals, whether World Champion or rookie. And 2025 could just be his time to lift a maiden crown, with Piastri gunning to take the fight to his highly rated teammate Lando Norris.

"The preparation for both of us has been preparing for a world championship fight and I think it would be naive of us to go into the season preparing for anything less. So, that's always the way you want to prepare things," Piastri says.

Piastri took his first win for the year at round two in China - a very controlled, dominant drive that somewhat made up for a heartbreaking home Grand Prix in Melbourne, where an off-track excursion in treacherous conditions saw him finish ninth. He was then third in Japan, behind teammate Lando Norris, in a tough, processional race.

But, the 23-year-old will have plenty of local support as he goes after his dreams, and not just from those trackside or watching on TV, with his McLaren team sponsored by Melbourne-founded brand Airwallex, which is a leading global financial platform that accelerates the team's cross-border payments.